I have prepared, trained, and armed myself with the recipes, tools, research, and knowledge to tackle every drink in the tome of gratification that we know as Beachbum Berry Remixed.

I intend to try 2-4 cocktails a week and post pictures and my impressions of each. I also intend to list the ingredients I used, but not the recipes (usually) as I hope everyone goes out and gets their own copy of this invaluable resource (Beachbum Berry Remixed).

I will include my own ratings and preferences regarding variations needed for each drink; as everyone has their own tastes, and certain changes to the standard formulas are often helpful.

Any feedback, suggestions, and corrections would be greatly appreciated.

without further adieu,

The Astro Aku Aku

A unique list of ingredients (papaya and apricot nectars) that ultimately combine to create a familiar tiki-taste we associate with the tiki flavor profile. The unmistakable combination of multiple rums, lime, and a variety of fruit juices are in delicate balance and are well on display in this drink.

My criticism stems from the timidity of the fruit incorporated here. Even at an ounce, I barely get any papaya flavor (could be the brand, but I think it only takes partial blame ), and at 1/2 an ounce, I definitely wanted to taste the apricot more. I also couldn't really understand why a whole ounce of 151 was used. It seemed to dominate the flavor.

As is, I gave the drink *** (3) out of ***** (5)
Personal choice - I would double the apricot nectar, and falernum. I would dial back the 151 to anywhere between 1/2 and 3/4. I don't need my drinks to be overly sweet, but I definitely want to be to make out the individual ingredients.

I'll play along tonight. I have an Astro Aku Aku in hand, served up in a big snifter with plenty of ice. Used Goya and Kern's for the papaya and apricot nectars (only choice in town pretty much), homemade Falernum (little more ginger and clove bite than Taylor's), Flor de Caña 4 for for the gold Spanish style and LH151.

I really like this one and find it to be very easy drinking despite the big dose of 151 Demerara. The 1.5 oz. of lime sounds like a lot but it is balanced by the generous 0.75 oz of sugar syrup (I used cane syrup instead of simple). I agree that the individual flavors of the juices get a bit lost, but sipping each of the juices on their own I find they are both really mild and I think even if you doubled the amounts they wouldn't punch through. That said, doubling or even tripling the papaya and apricot nectars might make this an interesting luau-style long drink. I think my biggest complaint with this drink is now I am not sure what to do with the rest of the cans of papaya and apricot juice I had to open up! There are scads of Zombie recipes in djmont's Zombie tome so maybe there are a couple of obscure Zombies in my near future.

I think a neat thing to do as you move on through Remixed would be to compare the recipes to the original Grog Log and Intoxica versions, noting where changes were made and commenting on whether you think the changes were for the better. With just a couple notable exceptions, I think the updated recipes do improve the drinks. No changes with the Astro Aku Aku.

I have yet to figure out why Jeff left Grog Log drink #1 (his Ancient Mariner) out of Remixed. I know he decided some drinks were not up to snuff for Remixed, but I really like this one — albeit I have to cut the amount of pimento dram in half so it doesn't overpower everything else. Going to spin this one up now to toast your grand mixing adventure!

_________________"If you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel."
Robert Louis Stevenson

Well, there you go then. Remixed does take liberties with its alphabetizing and reordering in the doifferent sections, doesn't it?
_________________"If you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel."
Robert Louis Stevenson

Well, there you go then. Remixed does take liberties with its alphabetizing and reordering in the doifferent sections, doesn't it?

I find the organization confusing. I mainly just go off the index, which is good for finding specific recipes, but not as useful for finding new things.
_________________David J. Montgomery
Professor Cocktail

Speaking of the Bum's books, I bought extra copies that I'm going to take down to the local office supply store, have the spines cut off, and have the books made into spiral-bound versions. I think this would be convenient for bar-top use.

Or I could just take the spineless versions, scan them into PDFs, and keep them on a laptop or tablet PC for reference at my bar. (Ah, but paper is just so much easier to handle and flip through. And it's not as "expensive" to spill drinks onto a book than onto a tablet PC...)

I really do like the spiral bound original versions of Grog Log, Intoxica and Taboo Table. Big print for my aging eyes, and the books stay open and flat on the recipe you want.
_________________"If you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel."
Robert Louis Stevenson

A great coconut-forward flavored tiki drink. Refreshing, and memorable. Coats the insides of your mouth with a nutty quality that leaves a smile on your face (That sentence sounds so wrong!). My wife loved it as well.

My only criticism - I'm not exactly sure how one teaspoon of orgeat really provides much to this drink I like orgeat and in the future will try increasing the ratio.
I also feel that a strong dark rum is definitely needed here. Last note - This recipe doesn't yield a very large drink - next time I will definitely scale this 50% up.